or when used to meet the fascinating gaze of the harlot! What an
instrument for depraving the whole man may be found in the matchless
powers of the brain, the hand, the mouth, or the tongue! What potent
instruments may these become in accomplishing the ruin of the whole
being, for time and eternity!

3. Abstinence.--Some can testify with thankfulness that they never
knew the sins of gambling, drunkenness, fornication, or adultery. In
all these cases abstinence has been, and continues to be, liberty.
Restraint is the noblest freedom. No man can affirm that self-denial
ever injured him; on the contrary, self-restraint has been liberty,
strength and blessing. Solemnly ask young men to remember this when
temptation and passion strive as a floodtide to move them from the
anchorage and peace of self-restraint. Beware of the deceitful stream
of temporary gratification, whose eddying current drifts towards
license, shame, disease and death. Remember how quickly moral power
declines, how rapidly the edge of the fatal maelstrom is reached, how
near the vortex, how terrible the penalty, how fearful the sentence of
everlasting punishment!

4. FRANK DISCUSSION.--The time has arrived for a full and frank
discussion of those things which affect the personal purity. Thousands
are suffering to-day from various weaknesses, the causes of which they
have never learned. Manly vigor is not increasing with that rapidity
which a Christian age demands. Means of dissipation are on the
increase. It is high time, therefore, that every lover of the
race should call a halt, and inquire into the condition of things.
Excessive modesty on this subject is not virtue. Timidity in
presenting unpleasant but important truths has permitted untold damage
in every age.